


crash into you

by crazyaboutthem



Category: Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 23:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15592710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyaboutthem/pseuds/crazyaboutthem
Summary: The invitation comes in the mail one Wednesday morning. Of course, she already knows all the details, being the bride’s sister and all. The invitation is just a formality, and Dearings are all about formalities.





	crash into you

**Author's Note:**

> well, i had this idea and i couldn’t get it out of my head, so here it is. it’s inspired by the song my little black wedding dress, by lucy hale, but it took its own life once i started writing it. it’s the first time i’ve ever written for clawen, and the first time i’ve written anything at all in a while, so i’m not sure i’m actually happy about it, but oh well.

The invitation comes in the mail one Wednesday morning. Of course, she already knows all the details, being the bride’s sister and all. The invitation is just a formality, and Dearings are all about formalities.

She gets it from her mailbox as she’s getting back from the grocery store. There was a time when she would struggle with getting stuff from her mailbox while carrying all of the groceries, so she mostly took to carrying them all upstairs and complaining about having to go back down yet again to get the mail, and he would smile, roll his eyes at her, kiss her, and say _Don’t worry about it, I’ll go_ , and dutifully go right back where she just came from.

But this doesn’t happen anymore. Now, she only has a couple of bags, since she’s shopping for herself. She has some 2% milk, some yogurt, and a couple of frozen meals. She sets the groceries on the counter and sits on the couch with the invitation. _Karen and Scott Mitchell invite you to witness the renewal of their love._ Ugh, so corny. But her sister always was a little bit on the corny side, even if she wasn’t willing to admit it. She sighs, grabs a pen, and RSVPs. No plus one, thank you.

She’s happy for her sister, she really is. She knows how devastated she was having to go through the separation from Scott, and having to help the boys through it, while also having to help them deal with everything that had happened _that day_. And Scott, well, she doesn’t really know him as well as she probably should.

Claire knows that Karen rushed into this marriage after their father was diagnosed. Benjamin Dearing had only one last dying wish, well, two really: to walk his daughters down the aisle on their wedding days. For Claire, it was too late. She was too busy at Harvard, and marriage never really was in her plans if she was being completely honest. Karen and Scott, however, had been in a relationship since their junior year in high school and everyone sort of guessed they would get married eventually, so Karen asked Scott if they could do it sooner rather than later, and Scott agreed. It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other, because they did; Claire just thinks that maybe they were together for so long, they just forgot what it was like to actually be together, instead of just coexisting solely to raise two children.

So yeah, Claire was happy for her sister, and when Karen called her, telling her that she and Scott had been thinking things over (almost losing your two kids to a few dinosaurs would make you do that), and working through their issues, and they were planning on renewing their vows, she’d smiled, congratulated her, and promised she’d be there for her that day. And after she’d hung up on her sister, she’d looked at him in her kitchen making coffee, and smiled even wider, thinking about how good he would look in a tux that would perfectly match her dress, because yes, she already knew what she was going to wear, she always did; and how much fun she’d have trying to convince him to wear one.

Now, however, everything had changed. Yes, she is going to her sister’s vow renewal in a month. But now, she is going alone, and if Owen ever were to wear a tux, she would not be there to witness it.

 

* * *

 

She walks around the place where the ceremony is going to be held, marveling at her sister’s good taste, and surprised the place doesn’t look as corny as her invitations did. She then goes to see her sister. Knowing her, she’s a bundle of nerves.

And yes, when Claire walks into her sister’s room, she sure is a bundle of nerves. But she’s a breathtakingly gorgeous bundle of nerves. Her dress is ivory white, princess cut, and down to just below her knees. As classy and beautiful as Karen. But even before she utters a complimentary word to her sister, she’s all over her, hugging her.

“Claire! You came!”

She feels a pang in her heart, but she can’t honestly blame her sister for that remark. She simply hugs her back and smiles. “Of course I did, Karen. You look amazing!”

Karen smiles, and then takes a step back to look at her, and her eyes widen as she gasps, “Me? Wow, Claire, you look beautiful!”

Claire blushes as her eyes turn downwards, and simply smiles. She knows her dress, she’s worn it before, and it’s her favorite. It’s black, basic cut, simple and classic; but she knows she looks good. _He used to love it_ , a voice says in her mind and she pushes it away.

“Thank you”, she mumbles to her sister.

The moment ends, because Karen is too nervous, and she goes back to look at herself in the mirror, and redo her makeup, and Claire is taken aback by the tears in her sister’s eyes. “Karen, are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, don’t mind me,” she says. “I’m just extra emotional today, and…” Karen trails off.

“And what?”

“I’m just really happy you’re here,” Karen finally says as she smiles tearfully, and looks at Claire’s reflection in the mirror.

Claire’s eyes threaten to fill with tears as well, so she simply smiles, gives her sister a sort of hug, and turns around to escape this room, and the disappointment she feels in herself, and just the bulldozer of regret that tends to hit her every now and then. “I’ll be right back,” she mumbles as she opens the door, and bumps right into…

“Owen,” she whispers.

He stares at her, hard, yet guarded, but there’s also flicker of tenderness in there. The same way you’d stare at a traumatized animal while trying to earn their trust; and she silently curses her brain for making that analogy. “Hi,” he finally whispers.

“Wh-What are you doing here?”

He blinks, startled by the accusatory tone in her voice, and she can’t blame him, but she also can’t blame herself, because he completely blindsided her by being here. “I’m sort of the best man.”

She takes a step back, surprised. “Best man?”

He smiles uncomfortably and rubs his neck, “Yeah, like, not really because I’m not standing up there with him because they aren’t doing that, but I am doing all the rest, you know? Like, helping Scott choose a tux, and helping him with his vows, and I was just about to go get your sister’s ring and give her this,” he says as he opens his hand and shows her Scott’s wedding band in it.

She has no words. Not a single word that she has learned in her thirty-one years of age is showing up in her brain for her to say.

She takes a step back, takes a deep breath in, and gathers herself. “You’re Scott’s best man? How?”

He chuckles, self-consciously, “Yeah, we sort of became friends after you and I…” he mumbles, and looks at her, and nothing is said for a second. He sighs. “After.”

She nods. She takes a deep breath in. She can do this, she can handle being in his presence for a few hours. She is not going to bail on her sister yet again. And she can definitely ignore the look in Owen’s eyes when he notices what she’s wearing. He’s no stranger to this dress. He knows every single one of its stitches, knows that the zipper is on the side rather than on the back, and knows that there’s a few teeth of the zipper that don’t exactly work as well as they should, so it needs to be zipped (and unzipped) gently. He knows. She ignores that, as well as the fact that, yes, he looks absolutely amazing in a tux; plasters a smile on her face, and holds her hand out, “Well, I was just going to get Scott’s ring for Karen, so if you could just give it to me, I can give it to her.”

He wordlessly hands her Scott’s ring, and she turns around and walks right back into Karen’s room, closes the door, and has to support herself with it because her legs are wobbly and she’s not sure whether she’s having a panic attack or what, but she feels like she can’t breathe.

“Claire?” Karen comes to her and grabs her shoulders, worriedly, but before she can say anything else there’s a knock at the door, and Claire pales even more than she probably already has.

Karen moves her to the side of the door and opens it, and Claire can’t really see who’s on the other side, but she knows. And even if she didn’t, the understanding coloring Karen’s face is enough to know. She hears Owen’s voice asking her for her ring to give to Scott, and Karen talking and giving it to him, but it all sounds muffled, like she’s underwater.

Next thing she knows, Karen is closing the door, grabbing Claire and sitting her on the ugly flowered chair on the corner of the room, and trying to ventilate her with a sheet of paper. She notices scribbles on it, and she realizes that’s probably her vows, and the irony of it is just a little bit too much, and she starts laughing. Karen stops fanning her, and looks at her, half puzzled, half even more worried than she was before. “Claire?” she asks, hesitantly.

Claire gathers herself, looks at her, and says, “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Karen looks at her, clearly not buying a single word she’s saying, and Claire takes a deep breath. “I promise, I’m fine. I’m just… surprised, I guess. I didn’t expect to see him, and here of all places.” Karen looks away guiltily. “How on Earth is Owen Grady Scott’s best man?”

Karen sighs. “After you guys broke up, or whatever it is you did,” she adds hastily when she sees Claire opening her mouth to protest, “Owen still called the boys often, and was there for them. And, whenever the boys were staying at Scott’s apartment, Owen would sometimes drop by and all four of them would just have a guy weekend, you know? He really helped them all reconnect, and helped the boys to not be so scared of adventure anymore. He’d take them camping every once in a while, but he didn’t want to take the boys’ time with Scott away from them, so he asked Scott to tag along, and I guess they bonded.” She finishes her story and she looks like she wants to add something else, but decides against it and just stares at her feet.

Claire sighs, “What?”

“Well,” Karen says, uncomfortably. “It’s just, a month after I called you and let you know about Scott and I, we went through another rough patch. Scott went back to his apartment for a couple of days. And, even though neither of them ever told me this, I’m pretty sure it was Owen who went to him, talked to him, and really helped Scott take the step and make the decision to come back into my life again.”

Claire’s heart hurts, because she has no doubt Owen would do that. He was a hopeless romantic, as hard as it was for anyone to believe that. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispers. Karen looks away guiltily, yet again.

“Karen.”

“Well, I guess I didn’t want to give you a reason not to come.”

Claire’s breath hitches, but she closes her eyes, and nods. “I can understand that.”

Silence falls between them for a couple of minutes, until Karen breaks it. “What happened between you two?” she whispers, so low that Claire isn’t even sure she heard her right.

But she did.

What happened between the two of them? Well, to be honest, Claire isn’t really sure. One day everything was fine, or as fine as it could be when you were making daily trips to the courthouse and meeting with lawyers all the time; and then the next, it was not.

To be fair, they never broke up, because there was nothing to break up. They never put a name to whatever it was that they were doing. After the park, they just seemed to fall together. They stayed in her hotel room in Costa Rica until they were free to go, and then, when it was time to go back to the States, and she asked him where he was going, he simply stared at her, smiled, and said _you’re the boss_. So, they went to her place in San Diego, where they helped each other through the lawyers, trials, the media, nightmares, and PTSD.

And then... And then.

“He asked me to marry him.”

Karen gasps. She actually gasps out loud, and it sounds so dramatic, Claire has to laugh. Claire Dearing, organized-Claire, predictable-Claire, has managed to shock her big sister into silence. “Yeah, my reaction was pretty much the same.”

“Claire…” Karen whispers. She opens and closes her mouth so much, trying to find something to say, she starts resembling a fish. Finally, “What did you say?”

“Well, no, of course.”

Karen stays silent for a second, obviously wanting to say something, but holding back. Until, “Why?”

Claire stares at her, shocked, and now she’s the one who’s opening and closing her mouth like a fish, except it’s not because she doesn’t know what to say. It’s because she has too much to say. “What do you mean why? We’d literally known each other for like five seconds before he asked me to elope. How am I supposed to say yes to spending the rest of my life with a man I barely know?”

“Claire. Don’t be obtuse,” Karen says.

“How on Earth am I the one being obtuse in this situation?” Claire almost screams, because she most definitely cannot believe her sister is the one saying these words. She’d thought her sister would probably agree with her, and tell her about her experience in rushing into a marriage. At least her and Scott had known each other for five years when they got married.

“I’m not saying that, in ideal circumstances, your reasons aren’t valid, because they are. But your circumstances weren’t ideal. Most people would have to know each other for more than five seconds to put one’s life in the other’s hands.”

“That is completely different.” Claire argues.

“And that’s exactly my point. But still, despite all of that. Claire,” Karen says and pauses until Claire looks at her. “You’ve been miserable every since you broke up or whatever.” Claire opens her mouth to argue, because she has not been _miserable_. Unsatisfied, maybe, but not miserable, thank you very much; but Karen stares at her hard, and she relents. Yes, she has been a bit unhappy. She does miss him. But, she’s still sure she made the right decision. There was no way they were ready for marriage five minutes after they were finally done with Masrani Corp and the whole nightmare that Jurassic World had turned out to be. _Literally_ five minutes after she walked through the door after her last meeting with Masrani Corp, when she handed them her resignation, he told her they should elope. You know, to celebrate being done with the worst thing that had ever happened to them.

“And so has he,” Karen adds.

Claire sighs and purses her lips, making it clear that the subject was dropped for now.

 

* * *

 

Claire sheds a few tears as she watches the happiness in her sister’s face when Scott slides her ring back into place. Zach teases her, and she elbows him, playing along, but she’s unnerved, because she can feel Owen’s eyes on her back. It kills her that she’s still so acutely aware of his presence whenever they are in the same room. She notices Zach and Gray looking between Claire and Owen and smirking at each other, but she ignores that. Today is her sister’s day, and she’s ruined plenty of her sister’s life already. The least she could do is give her a drama-free day in her ceremony.

Karen and Scott kiss, and everyone bursts into applause, and she can see how happy and relieved Zach and Gray are, and she feels so much love for this family. For this family that she almost lost, knowing she was losing them way before the words _Indominus Rex_ were even in her vocabulary.

The ceremony was outside, on a garden, so they have to walk back to the dining room for dinner, so she grabs Zach’s arm and they start walking back, and she tries to ignore the fact that Gray and Owen are following them.

In all of the emotion that today has caused, she’d failed to notice the fact that Owen would probably be sitting at her table, since he was the “best man”. And sure enough, Owen sits right next to Scott’s spot, which is still empty. Zach and Gray complete the table. She takes a deep breath and, when a waiter offering champagne passes by, she grabs a glass and takes a good gulp. Gray and Owen are deep in conversation about something, but Zach is looking at her and smirking, so she narrows her eyes at him, and he chuckles.

Well, this was going to be a long night.

 

* * *

 

When Karen and Scott are in the middle of their first dance, the DJ suggests other couples join them on the dance floor, and she watches as a few couples stand up and start dancing around Karen and Scott, even Zach and Gray with a couple of girls she doesn’t know, happiness radiating off of all of them.

She’s so focused on looking at the happiness display, she fails to notice Owen is standing right next to her, his hand extended to her, offering… offering _what_?

She stares at him. “Come on, Claire. We’ve danced before, you know I don’t bite,” he says, smirking at her.

She narrows her eyes at him and says, “But you do step on my feet.”

He smiles, “I’ll let you stand on mine.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’d let you lead,” she says as she grasps his hand and leads him to the dance floor.

They start swaying around in silence. But Owen has never been a fan of silence. “Beautiful ceremony,” he says, and she hums in response. She can feel him sigh and tense, but honestly, what did he expect she’d do when she saw him for the first time in who knows how long? (She knows _exactly_ how long it’s been, but she ignores that). “You know you’re allowed to talk, right?” he snaps.

“I don’t have anything to say.”

“Yeah, what else is new?”, he mumbles, and that’s it. She can’t do it. She can’t pretend that everything’s alright and peachy when she’s literally feeling like she’s burning inside out, and wants to cry, but also laugh, and also sleep for the next three days, but first she’d like to scream for maybe a few hours, and it’s just all _so confusing_. _Owen_ is _so confusing_.

She disentangles herself from him, (when did she get tangled in his arms exactly she doesn’t know), and walks away from him. Away from her emotions and the confusion and the look in his eyes which she knows so damn well.

She can feel him following her, but she doesn’t care. She keeps walking outside until she reaches the place where the ceremony was held and has to hold herself steady with a chair, because she’s feeling like she might pass out any second now.

“Claire,” Owen says right behind her. He’s always right behind her.

“I’m fine,” she mumbles.

“Of course you are,” he says, quietly. “You always are.”

Her eyes fill with tears, and even though she’s trying to will them away, she can’t really control them, which makes her want to cry even more, and, before she knows it, her shoulders are shaking and Owen is holding her, and she’s sobbing into his shoulder, and holding on to him for dear life.

A few minutes pass by, at least she thinks it’s a few minutes, the music is still going on in the dining room; and she finally calms down and is able to breathe once again. She pulls back and keeps her eyes downwards because she absolutely did not mean to break down in front of him, especially at her sister’s vow renewal ceremony; but he lifts her chin up with two fingers and forces her to look at him. “You know it’s okay to not be okay, right?”, he whispers, and even more tears fill her eyes, something she thought was impossible unless she drank some more water, but no, apparently she still has plenty of tears to be shed tonight.

She wants to curl herself up in his arms again, but he won’t let go of her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. “I need you to listen to me.” he says, as he takes a deep breath, and her stomach drops down to her feet. “I know you had to pretend like you were always fine before, that nothing could break you, because you were the face of a company, and every single person on that island looked to you to feel safe and protected and that everything was in control. I know you always had to be in control, and I respect that. But, Claire, I _never_ expected that from you.” He pauses for a second and she can see him struggling to find the right words. “I know that asking you to elope was a mistake, I know that. I guess I could feel you pulling away from me, and I was desperate to make you stay, and that backfired. I just…”

He’s getting frustrated because he doesn’t know how to make his point, and she can certainly understand that, so she takes a deep breath and grabs his hand that’s holding her chin and interlaces her fingers with him, but keeps her eyes on him. _I’m here. I’m listening. I want to listen_ , she says telepathically, and, as always, he understands her.

He takes a deep breath and continues. “I convinced myself that my feelings were completely out there, that you were aware of how I felt about you, and us, and it was me who was left wondering where you stood. I can see now that maybe I wasn’t exactly open about my feelings either, so I’m gonna try now, okay?” Claire’s breath hitches, and she takes a step back, but, as always, he takes a step forward and he’s right back where he was before, and they’re so good at this dance. “I love you, Claire. You. I know exactly who you are, and just because we got to know each other in circumstances of life or death, does not mean that I don’t know who you are and what I want. I want you. I want us. This is no longer my adrenaline or PTSD or whatever you once thought it was doing the talking. This is all me.”

She is left, once again, speechless, closing and opening her mouth, trying to find something to say, but there’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. She thought she was ready to hear that, and now she can see that she is most definitely not ready. Or, actually, she is not ready for how she feels listening to all of that.

Luckily, she doesn’t have to say anything, because Gray chooses that moment to show up and say it’s time for dinner. She looks back at Gray, and Owen knows the moment is broken, and he can feel her pulling away once more, so he lets go of her hand, and takes a step back. The look of disappointment and regret in his eyes breaks her heart all over again, and she can’t breathe.

Claire walks up to Gray and says, “Please tell your mom I’m sorry, that I had to go home. I’m so sorry, and I’ll make it up to her, okay?” Gray nods, but Claire can tell he’s disappointed, and honestly, she can’t blame him. She walks back into the room, inconspicuously grabs her purse and coat, and gets into her car. She has to take a minute to gather herself and stop crying because she can’t see anything, but after a few minutes she’s driving away from her sister’s ceremony. From her family.

She doesn’t want to think about what else she’s driving away from.

 

* * *

 

Claire gets home and goes to take a shower. It’s become her go-to relaxing method after that day. Except this time, instead of thinking, she just wants to blast some music, because she does not want to think right now. She just wants to take a hot shower and go to bed.

As she’s walking into the bathroom, her phone rings and she freezes. She goes back into her room and grabs it, hesitantly looking at her screen, and sighing in relief when she sees Karen’s name flashing on it.

“Hi,” Claire mumbles.

“Hi.”

“I’m so sorry, Karen,” she starts to say but Karen cuts her off.

“It’s okay. Gray told me he saw you with Owen, and one look at him and I could tell that if you left, it was because you most definitely needed to. I understand.” Neither of them say a word for what feels like a lifetime but it most likely was just a few seconds. “You missed the throwing of the bouquet,” Karen adds, and Claire’s eyes fill with tears once again.

“Karen--” she chokes.

“Claire, what happened?” her sister asks and Claire can’t even talk because she’s choking on her tears, and Karen is trying to calm her down and mumbling _it’s okay, it’ll be okay_ , but Claire doesn’t know if it will be.

“Why do I keep running away?” Claire finally asks a minute after she’s finally able to calm down.

Karen sighs. “You know, ever since we were kids, you were the most independent person I’d ever met. You always handled things your own way, on your own time. You’d only ever talked to me about your problems when you’d already found a solution. I was always jealous of that.”

“I remember asking for your advice sometimes, Karen” she counters.

“Not really. You’d come to me with a solution and you just wanted my reassurance that you were right. You were always independent, and also a bit insecure. I could never understand how those two things could coexist in one person. But it always worked out for you.”

After a few seconds of silence, Claire grew impatient. “So, what’s your point?”

Karen takes a deep breath in, and exhales. “My point is, maybe, you’re so independent, you don’t really know how to lean on someone. Even when you need to. Even when you want to.”

 

* * *

 

Owen gets home late. Zach had to drive him home, because he’d had a couple of beers, not as many as he’d liked to have had, but still. Zach drops him off at his building and drives off once he sees Owen’s inside. Owen walks up to his apartment, trying to get his keys from his pocket, and almost trips on…

“Claire.”

Claire Dearing is sitting outside his apartment door wearing the little black dress she was wearing hours earlier. The same dress she wore the night he suggested eloping. The same dress he _loves_. The same dress he _hates_.

She stands up. “Hi,” she whispers, timidly.

He walks around her, opens his door, and walks inside, expecting her to follow him. But, when he turns around, she’s still standing on the exact same spot. He really doesn’t have the energy or the patience for this. “Why are you here, Claire?”

She stares at the ground extra hard, thinking about what she wants to say, and fumbling with her fingers. “Claire, listen, I’m tired, a bit drunk, and to be honest-”

She takes a deep breath. “It’s not that I can’t survive without you. I can. I have.” He nods, he knows this. “I just don’t want to,” she finishes, finally looking up at him.

He stares at her. Hard. For a long minute. He’s giving her time. “Claire. I’m giving you an out right now. Think. Because, if we’re really doing this, I’m _all in_. And I need you to be all in as well. I can’t take what happened last time again.”

Claire takes a step forward and holds his hands. “I love you. I have for a while. My feelings for you were never in doubt.”

He’s trying to hold back his smile. “What about your feelings for us?”

She hesitates. “I never really had doubts about us per se, either. It was more about myself. It’s just… I’m a very organized person.” He snorts, and she glares at him.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, lifting his arms up in defense.

She sighs, and continues, “I’ve always had a plan for my life. There were always steps to follow, and those steps were in a particular order. You showed up a lot earlier than I planned. And then, the whole mess at the park happened, and my plans were completely destroyed. I lost everything. I lost my job, my career, my reputation, my steps to follow. All I had left, was you.” She paused and took another breath in order to continue. “I was adrift, lost, and I could only hold on to you. I’ve always prided myself in my independence and my ability to solve my own problems, without anyone’s help. And all of a sudden, I couldn’t count on myself. I was weak. So I guess I needed to lose you in order to find myself again. I thought I had to make a decision, it was either you or me.”

She lifts her eyes up to his face and tries to read what she sees in there. There’s sadness and regret, but there’s also slight admiration and frustration, and even love, which makes her shiver. She only has one more thing to say, so she takes a deep breath and takes the plunge. “Look, I can’t promise that I’ll be always open about my problems and my feelings all of a sudden. But, I do promise to try. Because I want to. So, if you’re willing to help me here, then yes. I’m all in.” she finishes with a small smile.

His smile is stronger than him, and he actually lets out a laugh, and she smiles even wider. They both know there’s still _a lot_ to discuss. But, for now, he lets go of her hands to cup her cheeks, and brings her lips to his.

They kiss and kiss and kiss, and Claire feels like she’s falling. She puts her arms around Owen and holds on for dear life. He’s her parachute, and he won’t let her crash.


End file.
